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Post by crazy_asian_man on May 17, 2021 17:54:27 GMT -5
Good find! I've only heard good things about Frakes unilaterally... More and more I feel like he's the center of what made TNG as a cast behind the scenes work. On another note: If only Frakes directed "Nemesis" I think there'd still be more Trek movies today. You might have a point. Most of the other casts seemed to have at least a point of conflict between a couple of people or more. Most of TOS’s cast famously had their issues with Shatner. I sometimes sensed that the DS9 set was pretty tense too. With TNG you always hear about how much fun they all had on set and Frakes seemed to be one to keep it light. It wasn’t until movies like Nemesis where the cast didn’t seem to like working for Stuart Baird. I think the TNG movies were done no matter who directed it though. Baird was out of his element but the problems went much deeper than him. The script was way off the mark. Frakes seems like a good guy. And a fun guy who doesn’t take himself too seriously. Margot Kidders niece recently worked with him on something and she said she adored him. With DS9, years ago, Marina Sirtis (a controversial figure on her own) said at a convention that she visited her friend Terry Farrell once on set and how it was like being at a funeral, whereas with TNG, it was like being at a party... which I didn't quite get- But then cut to years later and I remember Joss Whedon saying that the leads of a tv show often set the tone behind the scenes- and that Nathan Fillon was the core of what made the Firefly cast fun- and one gets the sense from the DS9 documentary that Avery Brooks took himself (and perhaps a couple of other actors on set) quite seriously- so that being the case, it makes sense why some actors were happy to get out of the contract.... On the flip side- with 1 percent of actors actually able to get work, and the types of work many HAVE to do to put food on the table- acting on a set that doesn't have a family atmosphere is hardly the worst work situation to be stuck with....
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Post by crazy_asian_man on May 17, 2021 17:47:53 GMT -5
Anybody ever wonder why Donner decided that the crystal jor-el sends should be green? A couple of people have told me that they thought it was kryptonite* Wouldnt it have been better and less confusing if it were blue? [* radioactive fragments of his homeworld. It's deadly. (To him)] I’ve always had the same thought. Unless they were worried about some issue with blue screen use at some point I’d have made it blue. I’ve also seen people confuse it with kryptonite. They tried to make them look different enough in the film but the layman wouldn’t know the difference. Either way I guess they made it green to make it stand out as special . I guess a dark blue would have worked better and avoided some mild confusion. For sure, there had to be a conversation from the art department and DOnner at the options at some point.
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Post by crazy_asian_man on May 17, 2021 17:44:33 GMT -5
Yeah. And it’s apparently real. I think Raimis films have a quirkiness that was perfect for Spider-Man. Something Cameron didn’t have. Cameron’s the better filmmaker but Raimi is the more fun filmmaker. The way he used his trademark style in the operating room scene in Spider-Man 2 was perfect. Raimi is better with down on his luck loser types and freaks. Guys that have rotten luck. See Darkman or Evil Dead. Cameron works best with protagonists who are outcasts or loners but special in some way. Jack from Titanic, The Conners, Ripley in Aliens, etc. there’s some overlap there but I do think Raimi has a better grasp on the average Joe because that’s who he sees himself as and what he sees in his characters. You can tell Cameron knows he’s special and has no problem letting people know it. It’s why he’s rubbed some people the wrong way. He’s got the same initials as a certain messiah as well as his own savior character after all. Well put! I agree completely- in the end, Raimi might have been the better fit for the quirkiness that was part of Lee and Ditko's Spiderman.... and Cameron's would have been excellent but darker and most likely not embraced some of the wackiness inherent in Raimi's films. A Cameron Spiderman might have bent more towards the Sony reboot in terms of tone- speaking of which- for sure, while I was okay with Sony's reboot (a bit)- it lacked so much of the fun and warmth of the Raimi one- that I'm mostly glad that the MCU was able to regain control- but at the same time... part of me does miss having some of what Raimi did to be more comic book accurate in his first two films...
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Post by crazy_asian_man on May 17, 2021 17:40:05 GMT -5
Just started season 3 of Supergirl. (And season 6 of Arrow, season 3 of Legends and season 4 of the Flash). I’m enjoying all the shows. I finally saw Tyler Holchein as Superman. I like him! I’ve only seen him in like 3 episodes but he’s got enough of that Superman charm and warmth that I can safely say I like him. He also has great chemistry with Melissa Benoist who is an AWESOME Supergirl. He works, but I still feel like they wasted a fantastic opportunity RIGHT THERE to get Routh instead for the Supergirl tv show and then later series- and borrow all the goodwill from fans for whom "Superman Returns" was their first Superman on screen....
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Post by crazy_asian_man on May 17, 2021 17:38:07 GMT -5
Agree totally about Split and Glass. What a wasted opportunity. I only recognise Unbreakable as canon. As for SR, yes it wasn't that thrilling, and yes it felt dour and subdued. But I think that was more to do with the acting,directing, editing and music anf overuse of cgi. Not with the kind of action scenes. SR had the plane rescue, the bank robbery, loads of rescues in Metropolis and more. On paper, each of those scenes should have been amazing, but they were poorly done. Compare the helicopter scene in STM with the underwhelming plane rescue in SR! All the ingredients were there. Just that the cake was badly mixed and half baked. A supervillain fight, I feel, would have been just as dour and meh as the other action scenes already were. My opinion only ! Unbreakable came along five to ten years too early. Casual viewers didn’t get the themes or tropes it was dealing with. Comic fans did. If it had come years later more people would have had a better understanding of what it was trying to do. I think that’s why Split got the momentum behind it to be made and why people were so excited for Glass. Lack of action isn’t the core problem of SR but it’s a symptom of the larger problem though. How dull it is. SR is rightly character driven but it’s got little else around those character moments. The plane rescue was great but it’s the biggest most exciting action sequence in the film and it comes far too soon. Theres another two hours left where nothing else lives up to it and it is downhill from there. Not all of it had to but the ending needed to. Lifting new krypton was boring. No ones on it except Luthors thugs. It’s just a long slow Sequence of him basically lifting a huge rock. STM on the other hand ratcheted up the action and excitement. Donner and co did the opposite by going bigger. Helicopter rescue was great but the movie ends with the rocket chase and the earthquake sequence. That’s how you do it. With STM vs. SR: I think the thing is- the main arc is similar (one level) to Wrath of Khan--- the main character is a bit depressed by his place in life- but then finds hope in life at the end from the son he never knew he had and the unexpected realization that he did have a family he never knew about. HOWEVER- with Wrath of Khan- #1: You also had the fiery villain with Khan to juice up the energy every time you ran into him- Luthor seems best as a 'middleman' at least as was used by Donner's version. A hunger for real estate isn't all that interesting no matter how you slice it... #2: You had other characters subplots and arcs that weren't about melancholy woven in: the eager new recruit and an interesting dynamic with Saavik/Spock, the continued bromance with Spock/McCoy/Kirk, you had the exciting starship chess-game like battles, the concept of project Genesis (coincidentally similar to but more interesting than the Krypton- reforming crystals in SR)- There was a lot of OTHER things going on besides just Kirk and his need to get past his middle age depression- so there (imo) wasn't anything wrong with that being an underlying problem to get resolved--- AS LONG AS - there was other interesting things going on to make up for it! In that regard... an interesting super-powered villain might have helped take up the slack- not just a mindless rock, but an actual interesting character to be a counterbalance to Supes I think would have helped give a different extra energy just as the multiple arcs in Wrath of Kahn did. Lex and his cohorts just were not that interesting as a 'b' plot on their own and needed another component- hence--- not any superhero battle, but an interesting one with an interesting supporting villain I feel might have filled that bill!
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Post by crazy_asian_man on May 17, 2021 17:26:15 GMT -5
Unbreakable came along five to ten years too early. Casual viewers didn’t get the themes or tropes it was dealing with. Comic fans did. If it had come years later more people would have had a better understanding of what it was trying to do. I think that’s why Split got the momentum behind it to be made and why people were so excited for Glass. Lack of action isn’t the core problem of SR but it’s a symptom of the larger problem though. How dull it is. SR is rightly character driven but it’s got little else around those character moments. The plane rescue was great but it’s the biggest most exciting action sequence in the film and it comes far too soon. Theres another two hours left where nothing else lives up to it and it is downhill from there. Not all of it had to but the ending needed to. Lifting new krypton was boring. No ones on it except Luthors thugs. It’s just a long slow Sequence of him basically lifting a huge rock. STM on the other hand ratcheted up the action and excitement. Donner and co did the opposite by going bigger. Helicopter rescue was great but the movie ends with the rocket chase and the earthquake sequence. That’s how you do it. Yes Unbreakabke was really ahead of its time. I think it would actually have been better suited to 2018 or so. Interested to see Stallone's new "Samaritan" movie -- that looks like it might be similar. Unbreakable also had the misfortune of following The Sixth Sense. Lots of people were expecting something similar, and came away feeling like it was a disappointing attempt to cash in The Sixth Sense. It's truly a case of a movie being ahead of its time. Hmmm..... for me, it was partially the type of film that was advertised (not as a superhero film, but a suspense/horror)- the other half was cynical Bruce Willis (to me) cast as the one going through all the unbelievable changes. If it had been another actor, I might have went with it more... but even on a rewatch, I just didn't fall anywhere close to in love with it like friends of mine have.
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Post by crazy_asian_man on May 17, 2021 17:23:28 GMT -5
Yes Unbreakabke was really ahead of its time. I think it would actually have been better suited to 2018 or so. Interested to see Stallone's new "Samaritan" movie -- that looks like it might be similar. Unbreakable also had the misfortune of following The Sixth Sense. Lots of people were expecting something similar, and came away feeling like it was a disappointing attempt to cash in The Sixth Sense. It's truly a case of a movie being ahead of its time. The industry and the press built M Night Shyamalan into a big deal way too soon. They were calling him the next Spielberg or the next Hitchcock after Sixth Sense but before he’d fully developed as a filmmaker of that caliber. He also got full of himself because of that and relied too much on his gimmicks. There was a great story years ago about how out of check his ego got when it came to any kind of suggestions. Agreed.... Sixth Sense was great- but he just got too famous too soon for that and it went to his head, perhaps. On the flip side, I really enjoyed 'Signs' but other than that- It's all been misfires (at least the ones I've sat through). But I guess you just need ONE hit and people can hope you strike a home run again...
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Post by crazy_asian_man on May 17, 2021 17:20:41 GMT -5
Really? I loved Silva! Probably my favorite villain! Lol When did you last see LTK? The more I watch it, the more I am in awe of Robert Davi as Sanchez. Agreed! Having the Shakespearian-trained Dalton vs. Davi was a giant cool factor to the movie. While it's not nearly as stylized as I would have liked a Bond film to be, having those two at the center and a (good enough) story makes it very watchable. Davi was highly underrated imo as a character actor...
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Post by crazy_asian_man on May 17, 2021 17:17:40 GMT -5
Hopefully they want to wipe the Snyderverse out of existence. It’ll be interesting to see what this means for WB but specifically for DC going forward. It’s a major change at the top. Warner really has been passed around like the town whore the last 25 years. First AOL then AT&T and now this. I have a bad feeling that with a company like Discovery, that they might have a view looking down their nose on comics (and comics related material).... but on the other hand, money speaks pretty loud- so if they're seeing Marvel and the MCU like cash cows that they want to replicate, it could be a good thing.... maybe...
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Post by crazy_asian_man on May 17, 2021 13:04:56 GMT -5
as always hopefully somebody at Discovery wants a blu ray international cut of sii....
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Post by crazy_asian_man on May 16, 2021 15:36:43 GMT -5
I think a string turquoise blue would have worked nicely Under Lester's direction I guess I should just be thankful that he didn't put in party streamers or glitter coming from the roof of the FOS when Supes gets the green crystal.... though I wouldn't put it past his approach to Supes. (Again, Lester did a fantastic Three Musketeers! So I'm not pure 'hater'!)
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Post by crazy_asian_man on May 16, 2021 10:41:07 GMT -5
Good find!
I've only heard good things about Frakes unilaterally... More and more I feel like he's the center of what made TNG as a cast behind the scenes work.
On another note:
If only Frakes directed "Nemesis" I think there'd still be more Trek movies today.
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Post by crazy_asian_man on May 16, 2021 10:38:10 GMT -5
Oh, and I actually hated Unbreakable when I first saw it! I thought it was boring and a disappointing let down after The Sixth Sense. It has only really grown on me in the past 10 years or so. I think the problem for me was lack of belief mid-way point.... and then to have Willis as 'super-hoodie man'- that you root for felt cynical with his casting (to me). Loved Sixth Sense and Willis was fine in that one and in Die Hard, though....
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Post by crazy_asian_man on May 16, 2021 10:35:11 GMT -5
Anybody ever wonder why Donner decided that the crystal jor-el sends should be green? A couple of people have told me that they thought it was kryptonite* Wouldnt it have been better and less confusing if it were blue? [* radioactive fragments of his homeworld. It's deadly. (To him)] Agreed.... I remember a friend mentioning this way back then! Odd how it never got mentioned in any of the interviews with Donner, Mank or the producers. But I guess it's better than: * Blue? (Too much like the other crystals?) * Red? (too much like blood) * Brown? (not very colorful) * Yellow? (Bland and suggests caution not power) * Purple? (Too much color!) * Plaid? (Just bad taste!)
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Post by crazy_asian_man on May 16, 2021 3:01:33 GMT -5
Hmnn.... I actually hated Unbreakable, feeling that the drama didn't work (Partly the story, partly Bruce Willis' smirk throughout the film).... but I have friends who adore that film and not SR... again, agree to have different feelings on films- oh well... (shrug)
I totally agree that SR's making of a sequel decades later was TOTALLY risky creatively and business-wise.... but that's why I always felt that Singer never got (and still doesn't I think) enough credit to try to emulate Donner and Reeve's version of Superman.
If you think about it- it's EXTREMELY 'humble' to do that in Hwood- (I think)
If you 'win', then Donner and Reeve get full credit. If you 'lose', then you're just ripping them off and not being original. But- if you're a true fan, then you don't care if you don't gain points but just want to see Donner/Reeve's version back on the bigscreen and continued as best as one can without the original actors available!
Which is kind of what happened....
Casino Royale was fine, but... outside of "Skyfall", I can't say I've fallen in love with any of the Daniel Craig sequels to revisit it. On the other hand, I found myself revisiting some of the Roger Moore, Dalton, and Pierce outings. I guess in dark times you want lighter material?
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Post by crazy_asian_man on May 16, 2021 2:52:35 GMT -5
Michael Dougherty said that he fought to have a superfight put in--- I imagine that instead of Supes being beaten up by human thugs, he could have been fighting a crystal-enhanced creature or even a form of Brainiac- and THEN fallen to the ground & get stabbed by Luthor/tossed into the water... there seemed to be a perfect spot to plug a superfight in! But, oh well.... Of course STM did not have one single fight scene either!.....apart from Supes throwing Luther from the box(that encased the Kryptonite) onto the couch! So, IMHO , the absence of combat is not correlated to a lack of quality. Also, the beauty of STM, is that it allowed the audience to revel in the powers that were bestowed on Supes(flight being the principle factor).....and to react to the heroic deeds that perpetuated throughout the last 3rd of the movie. This was a form of spectacle that was practically unprecedented in cinema up until that point(78'). But by 2006, we already had the flying Neo and Agent Smith, the Nazguls in LOTR, Harry Potter on his broomstick(lol!), pod racing and heck......even Spidey swinging from one building to the next in the Raimi flicks(which resembled flight!). So people walking into a cinema in 2006 were well used to seeing stuff fly. Which meant that SR had to rely on another attribute. Allow me to explain. In 06', SR was squarely in the shadows of Pirates-Dead Man's Chest. Now, IMHO, as a movie, Dead Man's Chest is average to mediocre at best.....but for all it's flaws ,it did have a charismatic lead in Depp.....which is exactly what SR lacked. It's precisely because of this handicap, that SR was already in deficit from the get go. Also, the idea of Supes being a pap is/was a great notion. Nothing wrong with it. But appending that particular storyline onto the narrative that derived from the Donner era was the wrong way to implement such a scenario. What they needed to do was to reboot from scratch(storywise).....to allow Routh to grow into his role, and just as importantly.....to solidify his relationship with Bosworth's Lois. Only then, would just such a story have had the narrative weight to have some kind of emotional/substantial significance. Just imagine that history had been different....and the Salkinds/Newmans had decided to make a Superman III that featured just such a storyline......Kidder's Lois giving birth to Clark's child. It technically was possible, because in Lester's SII, whilst Clark's may have erased Lois's memory..... she still could have been pregnant from a depowered Clark?! Think of all the dramatic possibilities emanating from that storyline! But a hypothetical SIII with such a storyline would have featured 2 actors(Reeve& Kidder) who almost had a telepathic understanding. The fact that they were both experienced parents in real life by that point would have added to their ability to convey all the necessary emotions that are attached to such a scenario. That's where Bosworth and Routh fell apart(as well as Singer's directing) in SR. It was a good idea executed poorly because neither the cast or crew had the story telling skills and nuances to make it believable. STM didn't need to have a superfight at the end- but generally a giant 'peak' scene at the end of SOME SORT to give a sense of catharsis. STM's scene with Lois' death/ Supes' primal scream/ decisive action to disobay his father was that 'peak' scene that otherwise would have just relied on the 'cliffhanger' with Zod and the Criminals being free to give that final 'juice' to the film.... which would have been interesting if STM had stuck to its initial plan to do just that- but it would have reinforced the idea of STM mainly being HALF of a story rather than one mostly self-contained one. I thought Routh was fine in SR- there might be one line delivery or two that I thought was a bit odd... but he sounded amazingly like Reeve- he gave off Reeve's vibes (to me) to an incredible degree. The story itself was very melancholy and dark- but dark in terms of a character with a broken heart and trying to find his way back... whereas MOS was dark and fairly heartless, a touch sadistic, and tone-deaf (who needed a scene of Supes using his heat vision on a screaming Lois???). You make a good point- I would NOT have liked a Superman III with a pregnant Lois with Reeve and Kidder back then.... but (and I know I'm not in the popular opinion on this) Singer I felt made it work somehow and moving with Routh and Bosworth- to my amazement. I have friends that looked as young as Bosworth looked that had kids, so that never was an impediment to my belief in that scenario. At the same time--- the opportunity to have fx and a budget for a Superman movie means being able to see poope that you'd WANT to see Superman do. Lifting things and picking up things is... okay.... but there's a primal inner kid that wants to see fantasy heroes battle and punch villains, robots, monsters, etc.--- the barrier in the past was budget and fx technology--- so in that sense, there was a MAJOR missed opportunity. (In MOS's case- there was battle, but it was just loud and noisy and annoying.... not even choreographed in a way to be exhiliarating... even beyond not caring about the characters on screen. The otherwise awful directors' cut of Sucker Punch at least had an awesome action scene in the middle) In viewing Superman IV, I really feel that though Kidder and Reeve were a great match in STM/SII--- physically they looked like the age difference between them got far more pronounced and I can't 1000 percent fault Reeve for feeling he needed a younger actress to play Lois opposite him by that time (the makeup and tone they had for Margot didn't help- trying to have her act the same as STM seemed a bit 'off' when she did look much older then).... so I'm not sure if I would have wanted them to use the plot for SR for SIV with Kidder and Reeve either, but.... again... for me, Singer isn't a perfect director and some bits of SR flop, but the love story is one thing that I really felt worked on a suprising level to me.
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Post by crazy_asian_man on May 14, 2021 17:33:11 GMT -5
I just saw Superman Returns for the first time in years. I have to say: with all the mixed emotions we all had years ago, I can now enjoy the film. The one thing that kinda stood out to me as a negative was that the climax lacked a satisfactory Superman-Luther resolution. Luther stabs him but they never face each other again for the rest of the film. Otherwise, I liked the film. I always thought it suprising and interesting that the 'final resolution' didn't have to do with the hero and villain, but Supes' being given hope to live through finding out Jason was his son. Definitely not 'formula'--- and more like an indie film resolution. But.... definitely unsatisfying for superhero film expectations. That's why I said at first: "I love it--- but I can see how nobody else would."
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Post by crazy_asian_man on May 14, 2021 17:30:56 GMT -5
SR added a unique level (at the time) of taking an established superhero character and giving him an evolution beyond the comics- him having the kid was done in extremely moving way- that could have been laughable or just plain bad. The problem was: SR was terrible in providing the spectacle or maximizing the 'cool action' factor by removing the superhero battle that one of the screenwriters pushed on, but Singer pushed back on. (Such a pity) After that- with the MCU evolving, it's fantastic that Feige got a great balance of drama with depth mixed with fresh feeling character development and action. It's great to have someone with such great vision in that position of great power at Marvel Studios.... (Don't ever die, Kevin Feige!) I’ve always given SR credit for being the first on screen adaptation to try to take the stigma off evolving the character even further by making him a father. Lois & Clark brought the marriage to the screen but Superman Returns was the first to take the hit in changing the status quo with a kid. It took a lot of flak for that because we fanboys don’t often like change. Now they’ve done it with Smallvilles Clark being a family man and Superman & Lois gets to do a deep dive long term exploration of the subject. But Superman Returns broached it first on screen. Yeah yeah they got a baby in Lois & Clark’s finale but at the time we weren’t even sure where it came from and the series was cancelled. The reaction didn’t matter. I think if SR had given Lex just one superpowered/enhanced heavy in his gang (maybe using a combo of the kryptonite and the crystals somehow) and had had him fight Superman there’s a chance we’d all be here talking about Superman Returns 4 or 5 right now. Michael Dougherty said that he fought to have a superfight put in--- I imagine that instead of Supes being beaten up by human thugs, he could have been fighting a crystal-enhanced creature or even a form of Brainiac- and THEN fallen to the ground & get stabbed by Luthor/tossed into the water... there seemed to be a perfect spot to plug a superfight in! But, oh well....
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Post by crazy_asian_man on May 13, 2021 2:34:23 GMT -5
I was GIANTLY disappointed when I'd heard that Cameron wanted to do Spiderman and X-men and couldn't.... because I figured: "NOBODY will do it as well as Cameron"- but Raimi's 2 1/2 Spiderman films are fantastic- particularly Spiderman 2--- and Singer's X-men series may have been uneven- but given how large that series became, at least X2, First Class, DOFP, and Logan are keepers.... they might not have been 1000 percent as close to the comics as I might have wanted- but those X-films kept me riveted in a way I didn't expect and in the end, maybe it turned out the best that all roads ended up with Kevin Feige spearheading the MCU.... which may or may not have happened in an alternate universe if Cameron directed either X-men or Spiderman... To me, a Cameron film is always a special event.... even if I wish he were more interested in doing superheroes instead of Avatar films. I agree that he wouldn't be interested in doing Superman. It's really really a shame we couldn't have seen where Singer would have gone with a sequel, even if he only produced it (which actually might have been better if the stress of filming was getting to be too much for him... First Class was fantastic being Singer-produced). I think on a technical level Cameron would have made an incredible film. Probably better than Raimis in a lot of ways despite being years sooner. I think Raimi’s film came at just the right time when CGI was at a level that certain things could be done well. But from Cameron’s treatment it would have been his Spider-Man. Not Marvel’s Spider-Man. Plus Cameron’s take on the material just comes off as awkward and dark. He was trying to have Peters transformation into Spider-man mirror a lot of teenage growing pains and rites of passage. I thought he took some stuff way too far though. If you think Snyder and Burton made some awkward superhero movie moments... Are you referring to the 'scriptment' that was out there on the web? I always wondered about the legitimacy of it, but never dove too far into checking it out- I still would have loved to have seen Cameron's version of it- The rumor was John Cusack as the lead, but who knows? (I guess he would have been okay)- The main thing that was important to nail impeccably was Uncle Ben's death and Peter's horrible remorse in his hand in it--(the third one that retconned it might have worked but the third one is a whole other discussion)--- and the funeral scene at the end was classic- if the Raimi film was a standalone, then it would have been just fine- but Spiderman 2 was even better than 1 in many ways..... But I digress- Raimi and Cameron I feel both had a giant personal connection to the material, but it's interesting how you could sense where their passion for the material probably would have overlapped and where they would have diverged. Raimi has a bit of subversiveness and goofiness to his aesthetics that dovetailed in perfectly especially with slightly off-the wall characters like J. Jonah Jameson and Tobey Maguire's slightly off-kilter version of Peter Parker. Cameron has a bit of a cold but compelling edge to his films like Terminator 1 & 2 - there's very little 'off the wall' I feel in Cameron's filmography. I think his version of Parker might have been more introspective and a bit gothy even- maybe more like Andrew Garfield- darker than the lighter and innocent Tom Holland version. In any case, it mostly worked out great.... for two films at least. But- while it's a shame so few franchises make a great trilogy, I guess I should remind myself even getting ONE great film from superhero material isn't a given....
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Post by crazy_asian_man on May 11, 2021 8:18:44 GMT -5
Ok no worries, yeah I'm after the console to go with the smaller NECA figure, which I think looks superior to this one. This kills the Neca figure as far as likeness and more subtle paint work (Neca looks more like a cartoon version of Reeve or a bad impersonator with the goofy pompadour) but this figure costs five times as much so of course it should. It’s not really a fair comparison. The Mezco figure just isn’t worth its kind of high price. The one thing the Neca figure has over this one is a sculpted costume. Cloth costumes almost never look good at 1:12 scale. The Mezco without the console I would not have gotten. Love the console, though I don't love the scale (Wished it were 1/6 to match the Hot Toys figure).... On the other hand, I think it's in the eye of the beholder though for the head sculpt.... I think I prefer the Necca head to the Mezco one. I do wonder, though, what's going to come up next for the Reeve figures--- Arnie Kim's posted his Phantom Zone criminal prototypes on facebook, but when I asked him, he seemed to be in the dark, too, on whether or not Hot Toys would approach him to make a mass production on it. I guess the Reeve Hot Toys just didn't sell quite as much as they wanted to force them to do more STM related figures? Sad.... but maybe it's just a question of time?
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Post by crazy_asian_man on May 11, 2021 8:12:05 GMT -5
I still think S2 could be vastly improved by avoiding the superbreath crap. Just have Superman catch the bus then fly away. I do think the aerial fighting had some fantastic parts. The scene where Non drops down and gets superman in a grip while Ursa flies off to get the flagpole still holds up. It looks so real and solid, unlike today's CGI crap. Also love that shot from below of Non coming down like a piledriver and smashing Superman into the pavement. I am way more critical of the slapstick now than I was back in 81'. I am sure 30 years from now, fans of EndGame and Infinity War will complain about the silly banter between the Superheroes(as they duff up the bad guys)......that proliferates throughout those 2 flicks. As for SII(and STM), I personally feel privileged just to have watched them at the time they came out. That experience was one in a million....and never to be replicated. Yeah--- I agree.... While I'm forever bummed by Lester's undermining of SII for my own movie experience, it doesn't take away from being able to see STM on the big screen with a fantastic audience.
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Post by crazy_asian_man on May 11, 2021 8:10:42 GMT -5
I still think S2 could be vastly improved by avoiding the superbreath crap. Just have Superman catch the bus then fly away. I do think the aerial fighting had some fantastic parts. The scene where Non drops down and gets superman in a grip while Ursa flies off to get the flagpole still holds up. It looks so real and solid, unlike today's CGI crap. Also love that shot from below of Non coming down like a piledriver and smashing Superman into the pavement. I agree that the aerial fighting had some fantastic stuff... but I wanted a whole half hour or so of it, like the Desth Star battle in SW... not 3 shots (Non punches Supes into a wall, one kick, and Non hit by Ursa)- the Mank script shows it was supposed to have more initially. One thing that had to be a giant obstacle was O'Halloran and Reeve not getting along- if Donner was there, I think he was so beloved, he would have smoothed the waters and we could have seen more layers of the battle even beyond what was scripted. If the diner scene was more powerful than scripted, by focusing on the emotions of the characters involved, I think we would have seen more dimensions of the villains and Supes during that Metro battle beyond the spectacle. If anything, I think of the Endgame battle with Thor, Iron Man, and Cap versus Thanos- much of that battle has you on the edge of your seat with the closeups and emotions- not just the noise and fireworks, like MOS had.
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Post by crazy_asian_man on May 11, 2021 8:02:53 GMT -5
Sometimes I wonder if it wouldnt have been better to just see STM and S2 once in cinemas and never again. Mmmm.... I feel that way at times with Star Wars and the bazillion spinoffs that I feel water down the experience, but I feel like Donner's version of Superman never had a chance to reach its full potential on the big screen beyond the 1 1/2 movies.... that's why I was so disappointed that Singer's rebooting never got a chance to spawn a series of Donneresque films but just the one. As is--- Reeve's Superman is standing the test of time. Cavill I don't dislike, but the movies he was part of didn't really serve anyone well.
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Post by crazy_asian_man on May 11, 2021 7:58:32 GMT -5
Well, Superman Returns and Man Of Steel are essentially old movies now! And at the time that the above ,respectfully came out, some of their fans(not all) considered STM,SII and III like antiques! So SR and MOS fans......welcome to the Reeve Only People club ! How does it feel to be fans of old movies!? One thing I would not hesitate to say......is that "our" old movies are better than yours!(IMHO of course---lol) It's now 15 years since SR hit the cinemas. I re-watched it recently and still feel underwhelmed by it. It's 8 years for MOS and as I said before in other threads......when I sat there in the theater in 2013.....everything I saw on screen, just reminded me of some of the other sludge I saw that year(Iron Man 3, Pacific Rim, Gravity, Desolation Of Smaug).....as well as other recent films at that point(Avatar, Transformers : Dark Side Of The Moon, Potter-Deathly Hallows, Avengers ect ec ). That's one of the main the problems(there are others) with the last 20 years of Superman films......they can't stand out from the contemporary crowd. I agree on MOS. I’ve been saying for years that it’s derivative of other better films. It’s like Goyer binge watched a lot of movies for inspiration and just threw some of the big ideas into a blender. Being an old movie is one thing but being an old movie that didn’t even make much of an impact is even worse. I like a lot about SR but it and MoS just seemed to be for nothing. SR at least introduced the world to the idea of a Superman movie with modern film technology at its disposal. That was a unique experience. MOS didn’t do anything new beyond digital destruction porn and other films have done that better. The Avengers had already delivered an epic city destroying superhero battle and alien invasion. MOS felt like reheated leftovers. SR added a unique level (at the time) of taking an established superhero character and giving him an evolution beyond the comics- him having the kid was done in extremely moving way- that could have been laughable or just plain bad. The problem was: SR was terrible in providing the spectacle or maximizing the 'cool action' factor by removing the superhero battle that one of the screenwriters pushed on, but Singer pushed back on. (Such a pity) After that- with the MCU evolving, it's fantastic that Feige got a great balance of drama with depth mixed with fresh feeling character development and action. It's great to have someone with such great vision in that position of great power at Marvel Studios.... (Don't ever die, Kevin Feige!)
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Post by crazy_asian_man on May 11, 2021 7:52:57 GMT -5
I personally am just weary of J.J. Seems like a lovely fellow in interviews(even to the point of being quite humble). But when he steps behind that camera....or sits in a producer's chair, that humility all but goes out of the window! James Cameron would probably be the one guy I would like to see tackle a Supes movie. Every time in the past when Cameron was doubted, he came up with the goods. Yes Avatar was hardly original , but you still got the feeling it was trying to stand out from the crowd.....and it certainly did financially - lol. And with regards to whatever sloppy, wishy washy romantic dialogue Winslet and Di Caprio had to spit out in Titanic......I defy anyone to watch that film and not be moved by the sheer scale of the depiction of the tragedy that unfolds in the final 3rd of that flick.....even now....23 years later. So Cameron would be my personal choice. But who I am I --lol! The biggest thing this movie has going against it is JJ Abrams. He’s a creatively bankrupt mimic who can’t stick the landing. As close as we ever came to seeing Cameron do a superhero movie was Spider-Man. I’m not sure the interest is there for Superman since he’s a Marvel guy at heart. He’d do something interesting but he’s also one do those guys who seems to be more into working with his own material. I’d give Cameron a lesser known superhero property or let him make his own. I was GIANTLY disappointed when I'd heard that Cameron wanted to do Spiderman and X-men and couldn't.... because I figured: "NOBODY will do it as well as Cameron"- but Raimi's 2 1/2 Spiderman films are fantastic- particularly Spiderman 2--- and Singer's X-men series may have been uneven- but given how large that series became, at least X2, First Class, DOFP, and Logan are keepers.... they might not have been 1000 percent as close to the comics as I might have wanted- but those X-films kept me riveted in a way I didn't expect and in the end, maybe it turned out the best that all roads ended up with Kevin Feige spearheading the MCU.... which may or may not have happened in an alternate universe if Cameron directed either X-men or Spiderman... To me, a Cameron film is always a special event.... even if I wish he were more interested in doing superheroes instead of Avatar films. I agree that he wouldn't be interested in doing Superman. It's really really a shame we couldn't have seen where Singer would have gone with a sequel, even if he only produced it (which actually might have been better if the stress of filming was getting to be too much for him... First Class was fantastic being Singer-produced).
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